OK, strictly speaking, Bucks Fizz is a cocktail comprising of 1 part Champagne to 2 parts Orange juice, and this little brewing escapade has been inspired by a soft drink can of: Whole Earth Organic Sparkling Elderflower and fruit Juices, which Lois bought for me the day we picked Marsh Samphire.

I thought that it would be nice to serve Lois a Home-made Elderflower Bucks Fizz on Christmas morning. With approximately 2 months left until Christmas day I have recently been experimenting so that I may accomplish this little mission of mine, and as usual I got carried away a little. This is another one my naturally captured Yeast methods of brewing, which I enjoy doing so much and is so easy to accomplish, resulting in it being virtually non alcoholic if consumued up until about the 10-14 day mark, and increasing in Alcohol ABV% from then onwards. It is also one of those fizzy naturally carbonating drinks that ferments under pressure in the bottle: So you have been pre-warned.

You will need the following;

A 2 gallon/10 litre bucket.

Enough Plastic screw top fizzy pop bottles to accomodate 5 litres.

A wooden or plastic spoon

A large saucepan

A funnel

A filter of some description: I like and use a wire mesh bowl filter from a coffee maker.

3 litres of Orange juice; freshly squeezed or from a carton (guess which I use? ).

400 grams of clear Honey.

350 grams of White Granulated Sugar.

Lots of boiling water.

Method:

Add 25 grams of the dried Elderflower to 2 litres of boiling water, and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Then dissolve the Honey and the sugar in this solution, whilst stirring well. Remove from the heat and pour the contents of the pan into the plastic bucket. Allow to cool to below 40 degrees centigrade (or about body temperature), and then stir in the 3 litres of Orange juice. Stir occosionally over the next couple of hours; 5 or 6 times is sufficent. Sprinkle the remaining 5 grams of dried Elderflower onto the surface of the solution without allowing too much of it to sink. Cover the bucket with a piece of Muslin to keep the bugs and insects out, and allow it to stand for approx. 3-4 days to allow the naturally Yeasts to flourish. When you can see a few frothy bubbles appearing on the surface, give it all a good stir, filter and bottle the mix into plastic screw top fizzy pop bottles.

Allow the solution to ferment for another 7 days or so in the plastic bottles before drinking.

Due to a device driver problem on my laptop, I have not taken any photos of this recipe in progress. Please refer to my Elderflower Champagne thread for step-by-step photos if you require them: the process is exactly the same.